COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - When it came to this year's U.S. National Indoor Championships and JOAD National Indoor Championships, the story is all about archery's rising popularity, and how that's translated to growth in the sport. Download complete results.
A record 3,320 archers in 73 different categories competed at ten different locations spanning the country over four weekends between February and March. Archers shot many different equipment types, including compound and recurve bows, as well as barebow and traditional style.
All competitors shot the same distance: 18 meters, or approximately 20 yards, at a multi-colored target face. The U.S. National Indoor Championships, open to both adult and youth archers, consisted of 120 arrows shot over two days, while the JOAD National Indoor Championships is a 60 arrow tournament.
Archers from the bowman category - the youngest, at 12 and under - competed side by side with archers in the Masters 70+ group, and every age in between. This year, the Collegiate division was also a significant part of the event, with archers shooting bowhunter, barebow, compound and recurve style equipment.
The events, known collectively as "Indoor Nationals," give archers from across the country a chance to participate at a national archery tournament. For most archers, the competitions are more about having fun, making friends and gaining archery experience than they are about shooting for medals.
Just ask Joseph Vozzo, a 16-year-old archer from Maine who made the trip to Fiskdale, Massachusetts to compete. "It's a wonderful chance to catch up with old friends, as well as to make some new ones," he said of competing at the JOAD National Indoor Championships.
"There's also a really strong sense of community there, where if you forget or need to borrow something, there's always going to be someone who'll offer to help. Plus, there's also the fact that, even if you're not that good, it's really cool to see the rankings come out at the end and see where you fall."
His mom, Noreen, agrees. Her four children all enjoy archery, and two of them compete. "It's been great for Joseph to see that he's part of a huge sport, with participants from all over the country, in all age groups. It's a reminder that archery is a lifetime sport, with a great level of camaraderie," Vozzo explained.
"I think for most archers, those who aren't at the upper echelons of competition, it's a very personal sport as well. It allows the archers to challenge themselves, in a way that's different than what's offered during [archery] class."
Coaches are in agreement. Dan Bolduc, a Level 3-NTS Coach who helps to run A.I.M Junior Olympic Archery Development Club, encourages archers to try the event, saying it can be empowering: "Shooting this tournament is a great ice-breaker for athletes who want more out of their sport or who want to test their comfort zone and challenge themselves. Many different types of archers attend this event and they all get something different out of the experience."
USA Archery congratulates all of the new national champions, as well as each of the 3,320 archers who participated in the 2015 U.S. National Indoor Championships and JOAD National Indoor Championships. Download complete results here. The new national champions are:
JOAD National Indoor Championships
JOAD Male Junior Recurve - Jean-Luc Espinet
JOAD Female Junior Recurve - Eliana Claps
JOAD Male Junior Compound - Charles Weinstein
JOAD Female Junior Compound - Cassidy Cox
JOAD Male Cadet Recurve - Ryan Oliver
JOAD Female Cadet Recurve - Kellie Heusi
JOAD Male Cadet Compound - Blake Ballou
JOAD Female Cadet Compound - Brooke Miller
JOAD Male Cub Recurve - Tyler King
JOAD Female Cub Recurve - Inga Pever
JOAD Male Cub Compound - Dane Johnson
JOAD Female Cub Compound - Sachiko Keane
JOAD Male Bowman Recurve - Dylan Oblander
JOAD Female Bowman Recurve - Cassidy Lacson-Villafuerte
JOAD Male Bowman Compound - Camden Neville
JOAD Female Bowman Compound - Jessarae Klatt
U.S. National Indoor Championships
Male Senior Traditional Longbow: Wade Allen
Female Senior Traditional Longbow: Joan Hinterbichler
Male Senior Modern Longbow: Archie Nixon
Female Senior Modern Longbow: Joan Hinterbichler
Male Senior Traditional Recurve: Steve Caufman
Female Senior Traditional Recurve: Robin Gardella
Male Senior Para Compound Open: Benjamin Thompson
Female Senior Para Compound Open: Martha Chavez
Male Senior Para Recurve Open: Eric Bennett
Female Senior Para Recurve Open: Lee Ford
Male Senior Crossbow: Brent Hankins
Female Senior Crossbow: Patricia Copley
Male Master Barebow: Richard Stonebraker
Female Master Barebow: Dianne Walters
Male Senior Barebow: John Demmer III
Female Senior Barebow: Shanna Schlitz
Male Master 50+ Recurve: Mike Gerard
Male Master 60+ Recurve: Ben Rogers
Male Master 70+ Recurve: Larry Skinner
Female Master 50+ Recurve: Laura Bennett-Shelton
Female Master 60+ Recurve: Barbara Schlettler-Jehl
Male Master 50+ Compound: Benton Christensen
Male Master Compound Finger: P. Jerry Wenzel
Male Master 60+ Compound: Dee Wilde
Male Master 70+ Compound: Ted Lytton
Female Master 50+ Compound: Julene Hakl
Female Master Compound Finger: Wanda Newsom
Female Master 60+ Compound: Sherry Lance
Female Master 70+ Compound: Mary Wenzel
Male Senior Recurve: Collin Klimitchek
Female Senior Recurve: LaNola Pritchard
Male Senior Compound - Braden Gellenthien
Female Senior Compound - Danielle Reynolds
Male Collegiate Recurve - Eliot Simon
Female Collegiate Recurve - Heather Jane Koehl
Male Collegiate Compound - Garrett Abernathy
Female Collegiate Compound - TIE - Emily Bee and Carli Cochran
Male Collegiate Bowhunter - Lucas Jarrett
Female Collegiate Bowhunter - Kendel Baier
Male Collegiate Barebow - Kelton Cheng
Female Collegiate Barebow - Megan Larson
Male Junior Recurve - Eliot Simon
Female Junior Recurve - Karissa Yamaguchi
Male Junior Compound - Charles Weinstein
Female Junior Compound - Emily Fischer
Male Cadet Recurve - Ryan Oliver
Female Cadet Recurve - Meghan Collins
Male Cadet Compound - Logan Bunker
Female Cadet Compound - Breanna Theodore
Male Cub Recurve - Tyler King
Female Cub Recurve - Inga Pever
Male Cub Compound - Seth Trahan
Female Cub Compound - Sachiko Keane
Male Bowman Recurve - Dylan Oblander
Female Bowman Recurve - Somin Ahn
Male Bowman Compound - Harrison Milne
Female Bowman Compound - Jessarae Klatt
< Back to All News
